Friday's showing

... Kates and I were going to take a walk with Pheebs tonight.

"We should go. It still looks really nice out there," I said, cleaning up the kitchen and looking through our window to the sunny sky in the north.

"Not over here," Kates said, looking out the window to the south and the red-gray sky beyond.

Barely a minute later it started pouring.

So we stayed in and watched a part of the stack of movies we had planned to get to during my two weeks home with Kates and Phoebe but didn't because we spent the whole first week in the hospital and the second week adjusting to life with the baby ...

Tonight's showing: "A Lot Like Love," the 2005 romantic-comedy flick starring the adorable Amanda Peet as Emily and the talented Ashton Kutcher, as Oliver. After a random-hook-up on a flight to New York, the pair make a connection and meet sparingly over the next seven years, with job plans and other interests always getting in the way ...

... I downloaded the soundtrack, which is darn good, a couple years ago, and I'm now sorry I took longer to see the movie ... I really liked this one; I know I use this word way too much, but it was another charmer. The Peet-Kutcher combination played well, I loved the early scenes of the two playing coy with each other and halfway through the movie I was totally rooting for them to just end up together already! ... But, but of course, without a good, solid two hours of back-and-forth the movie wouldn't be half as heart-grabbing ... The somewhat predictable outcome notwithstanding.

(If you haven't seen the movie and want to, now's a good time to skip ahead ...)

Emily's photo sense also was pretty intriguing (The idea for the nude photo under the moonlight was pretty sweet ...) ... And there were several classic, laugh-out scenes, including one during which 20-something Oliver, who lives at home with his parents, takes a call from Emily and he's interrupted by his snooty little sister who must use the phone. Emily's laughing reaction to the childish yelling and screaming makes the scene even funnier (I'm laughing about it now just describing it.)

And the date scene, during which Emily and Oliver get wrapped up in a battle to see who can go without talking the longest ... Emily ends up -- hilariously and quite realistically -- faking a horrific choking on a bite of her food. But Oliver doesn't take it for a second, keeps on eating his food like nothing's happening and even turns away the waitress when she comes to Emily's aid. Emily then fakes her death, but when Oliver still doesn't flinch she finally gives up ... Oliver, who has a deaf brother in the film, retorts "I can go without talking for days."

Also loooooved the two singing to Peter Cetera's "If You Leave Me Now" during their little road trip ... Totally something I would do.



... And there was the scene midway through the movie during which Oliver had popped up on Emily once more; while he's sitting on her couch pouring out his heart about a recent break-up, she's stroking his hair and trying to prime him for a little rendezvous -- an idea she called her best friend about moments after Oliver showed up. So when Emily's best friend calls back to check up and the answering machine picks up, Emily explodes from the couch to pick up the phone in a hilarious bit of physical comedy ... Making the moment even funnier, I had a sleeping Phoebe in my arms and she nearly leaped out of my arms at the very same moment Amanda Peet jumped off that couch ...

Here's the trailer for your enjoyment ...



And now we're watching the last few innings of the Cubs game ...

We've seen Soriano botch not one, but two fly balls he should have caught. He didn't come in fast enough on one, and on the second he ran in when he should've been going back ...Then, he got some redemption and tied the game with a home run in the ninth ...

But the Cards just won it in extras.

Good night.